pairings: loki laufeyson x reader, platonic!thor odinson
warnings: gross coffee, loki flirting
about: : loki x reader with her as a barista and him just begrudgingly drinking the worst coffee just to get close with her?
a/n: thank you so much for paticipating!! i hope this is good! i was going to make this a lot longer with more encounters but i didn't want to stretch it out to the point where it got boring and repetitive, so i left it where i did, i hope that's okay!

"god, this coffee is so gross," your coworker voices from behind her, her words catching the attention of the few customers in the coffee shop. you elbow her gently, shooting her a look while the customer waiting for his own coffee looks uncomfortable and regretful.

"sofia," you hiss at her, "we don't need you driving away the few customers we have." sofia rolls her eyes, gaze flitting down at the coffee in her hands again. she shrugs, raising an eyebrow at you as if to ask if she's wrong. she isn't, but you kind of need this job. you glare at her one more time before grabbing the man's coffee and shooting him a nervous smile as you hand it to him. "she's kidding," you lie, "um, it'll be eight dollars, sixty-three cents, please."

he takes his coffee from your hands apprehensively, paying with the exact amount of change. no tip. figures.

you sigh softly, gesturing sofia to attend to the quick-growing line of tired students waiting for crappy coffee. you smile at the customer at your own station, smiling tiredly at him in greeting. you barely catch the specifics of his overly complicated drink order when the bell above the door rings, alerting you of the arrival of a new customer. a tall man steps in, jet black hair atop a pale, handsome face catching your attention. he's dressed in a crisp suit that you're sure couldn't hold a wrinkle even if you tried. a blonde man is at his side, a bright expression on his features as he looks at his surroundings. it's a stark difference to the man next to him, who looks indifferent and bored. at least, until his light eyes settle on you. although you're supposed to keep up with exactly how many pumps of honey blend the customer in front of you wants, you can't focus on his voice when the stare of the most intriguing man you've ever seen walk through these doors is on you. thin lips quirk in a smirk, and long fingers straighten his perfect suit as he joins the line you're attending, even though sofia's line is considerably shorter.

"—three of caramel sauce, and six shots of espresso. poured, not shaken. please make sure that's noted, i can tell the difference." the customer finishes. you snap your attention back to him, nodding quickly and noting down everything he said.

"of course. it'll be out in a few minutes."

"i can take your order," sofia calls to the tall man who's behind another customer while sofia's line remains empty, waving him over to her counter. he looks at her for a few moments before refusing.

"i can wait. i'll stay where i am." he responds simply, motionless when everyone behind him moves to the other line. sofia raises an eyebrow but shrugs, attending to the rest of the customers. you gift the man a smile once it's his turn, letting your fingers drop from the monitor so you can pay attention to his order— or, really, have a clear-cut opportunity to observe the dangerous cut of his cheekbones and the cheeky glimmer of green in his light eyes. the contrast between the color of his eyes and hair is one you appreciate, trying to hold yourself back from completely ogling the man in front of you as he says hello.

"hi, welcome to coffee time, what can i get you today?"

"i assume coffee is the specialty?" he asks, the edge of refinement in his tone making your knees a little weak.

you lie and nod, "kind of," you answer.

he cocks his head at you, dark eyebrows joining together in amusement surely at your reaction at him. you can't imagine it's his first time watching someone be knocked stupid at the quirk of his lips. "coffee then, please. black."

you nod at him. "name?"

"loki," he replies smoothly, and then it hits you that his face— beautiful and chiseled and perfect— has been splayed over articles and fronts of magazines for the past few weeks, loud yellow letters letting you know how the newest reformed avenger is doing. he can tell you've realized, and he's ready for the disgusted grimace that will surely settle upon your face while your recount everything he's done, refusing to ever serve a monster like him. but it never comes. instead, a gentle smile quirks the edges of your lips up as you type something into your monitor.

"it'll be right out, loki," you tell him. he decides he likes his name better on your tongue.

-

you say it again when you set down his coffee—black and surely disgusting— down on the table, connecting your eyes again. you nearly want to warn him of how bad of a mistake it is to order a coffee from the shop before he takes a sip of the drink, but you want to watch him watch you for a little while longer, enjoy the stare of a god on a mortal.

"thank you," he winks at you, cold fingers brushing against yours. you hum in response, holding his eyes for a few seconds until another customer clears their throat, clearly annoyed at the lack of attention you're paying them. you snap yourself back to the real world, blinking away the intensity of his irises.

"have a nice day, loki," you murmur, sending him a soft smile before begrudgingly looking away from him to concentrate on your next customer.

loki gifts you an enchanting smirk, walking back to his brother to drink his coffee and continue to observe you as you interact with other people. he brings the drink to his lips when he catches you offering a smile to a grumpy customer. "oh, this is disgusting," he coughs suddenly when he drinks from his cup, grimacing at it, "truly, revolting."

thor frowns at his brother from next to him, "now, brother, you promised you'd be more tolerant of midgard and its customs."

"i am being tolerant," loki argues, "this drink is just— try, it brother."

he observes the wince on his blonde brother's face when he gulps down a particularly large portion of his coffee, his lips set in a thin line, "revolting," he agrees quietly, moving to dump the cup in the trash before loki stops him, catching your eyes on the pair of brothers.

"now, i do believe it's rude to not finish a drink in front of those who made it for you," he mutters, eyeing the coffee.

"we just won't come here again," thor decided, forcing the dark liquid down his throat.

"now, brother," loki begins, smirking at you from behind his cup and making you knock over a tray of lids in your flustered state, "let's not get too hasty."

-

you see him again two days later, with a beautiful redhead you know as natasha romanoff trailing behind him, watching as loki and his brother, whose name sofia—and this month's issue of the hottest (god) alive— told you was thor. they get in your line once again, and you smile at him from behind the counter, the voice of the woman in front of you reciting what must be the search result of searching "most ridiculous coffee order" becoming simple background noise once he smiles back at you.

natasha raises an eyebrow from behind him, glancing from you to him before she settles on the menu.

"maybe i shall try the tea this time," thor thinks out loud in the hope that it wouldn't be as bad as the coffee. loki scowls at the mention, remembering how awful the tea at the so-called "best tea places" was compared to asgard's tea. he couldn't imagine how this place's might taste. there was no other drink listed in the menu whose name he recognized, frowning in confusion at the pink drink and cap'n crunch cappuccino.

he didn't get a chance to ask either the widow or his brother, the line moving up and suddenly he was facing you again. you seemed more beautiful than he remembered, bundled up in a large sweater with dangly earrings adorned with emerald flowers hanging from your ears. the soft smile you gave him the day he met you remains the same: more genuine than the ones he's seen you give to others.

"good afternoon, loki, what can i get you today?" you ask, eyes trailing over the defined shadow of his cheekbones in a way you think he won't notice. he smirks at you.

"you remembered my name," he notices, "i do not remember yours."

you nod, "i didn't tell you. it's y/n."

"y/n," he muses, "lovely name. fitting."

he appreciates how noticeably flustered you get at his words, catching your lip between your teeth as you thank him. neither of you notices when sofia's line disappears, and the people accompanying loki move to hers.

"i quite enjoyed what i ordered last time, y/n," he tells you, and you look surprised for a second before you nod, reciting his order.

"black coffee, coming right up."

"thank you, y/n."

you can't help the dopey smile that pulls at your lips when he says your name, muttering an of course before you watch him go.

loki observes you the whole time he's waiting for his coffee, nodding along when the widow gags, glaring down at the coffee, and questioning how the place managed to mess it up that bad. then continues during the minutes he painstakingly takes sips of the liquid fire. the taste of your name is still fresh on his tongue, though, and it's enough to get him to finish the vile drink.

-

you see him six more times during the span of a couple weeks, during which he learns that you're a college student studying forensic anthropology at syracuse university and you live in an apartment with one of your best friends. he also finds out you have a great love for writing and rainy days, and that you own two dogs; thor has a laugh when he finds out one of them is named thorgi. while all the new information he knows about you settles well in his mind, the coffee he has become used to drinking often does not. even a god has their limits, he supposes. but what is loki known for if not for pushing limits?

he arrives in the midday as soon as he can the next week, alone for the first time. he suspects natasha has caught on to his attraction to you, and he can only assume she's assuming he'll finally ask you out if he's alone. he's sure she's somewhere nearby watching him just to make sure he isn't wreaking havoc, though.

you're not on cashier duty today, which loki suspects is because he's been taking up so much of your time when you are, that you're barely attending to other customers. the mere smell of the coffee already has an ugly taste forming in his mouth, and he swallows back the memory of drinking the liquid in favor of returning the curve of your lips when you catch his eye from your place in front of the coffee machine. "hello, darling."

"hi, lo," you grin, your new nickname for him sliding off your tongue with ease, shooting him a happy glance before getting back to your job. "how's it going?" you ask. he sighs deeply before answering, but your laugh cuts him off, "ah. that sigh tells me everything. want your usual?"

loki's wellbeing is screaming no, but he tells you yes, pleased that he has a usual in this place— in you.

"it'll be out soon," you wink. and it takes loki aback when he realizes how comfortable you've become with him, and how comfortable he's become with you. he tries to think back to a time when someone called him a nickname and loki let them get away with it, unsurprised when he finds none. he can't remember an instance when he was so genuinely interested in someone other than himself—especially a mortal—for a reason that didn't directly relate to something he could gain, but he realizes there is something he could gain from getting to know you better: you. and that's not even close in comparison to any of the prior gains, towering over each and every one of them.

he's dragged out of his thoughts by the sweet lull of your voice, letting him know his coffee was ready and right in front of him. he looks from it to you, scanning your features until he ultimately decides he needs to get his bearings and ask you out on a date now before the coffee he's drinking just to get to know better you burns a hole through his stomach.

"y/n," he calls, nudging the coffee away gently and leaning closer over to you. you stop working, motioning for one of your coworkers to take over as you meet loki, the tone of his voice letting you know this won't be a short conversation— a fact you'd learned just a week ago when he had said your name like that and had delved into a conversation about all he knew about forensic anthropology (which was, unsurprisingly, a large amount).

you hum, "yeah?"

"this coffee is awful," he informs, and you look a little taken aback by his bluntness but chuckle after a moment, nodding.

"yeah." you agree, "yeah, it really is. i've been meaning to tell you, but you seemed to be enjoying it, what with you ordering it every two days."

"it's terrible, just truly terrible," loki repeats, "but... but you are not. you're interesting and bright, and i would be honored if you allowed me to court you— or as you midgardians call it: take you on a date."

and when you say yes, loki can agree that maybe the coffee was bad, but he got you thanks to it, so maybe it's not as bad as he had previously thought.